DTV in a Travel Trailer

[bfla]

My wife and I went camping in our travel trailer this weekend for the first time and I had problems getting DTV to work. The trailer has a coax input that then splits off to 2 different coax jacks inside the trailer. I was running it from the dish (mounted on a tripod) to the coax input on the outside of the trailer and then attempting to connect a receiver and TV to either of the jacks inside with no success. When I took the receiver and TV outside and then connected them directly to the dish I was able to get TV no problem. I am wondering if there is a problem with the wiring in the trailer or if the fact that the main coax line splits off into 2 jacks is what's causing the problem. Based on my description of the set up, does anyone know if the set up itself could be the problem?

I am hoping it is the set up and not the wiring, I cringe at the thought of the potential cost of having to rerun the coax in the unit.

 

[JustanOldfart]

Most splitters don't pass DC current so your sat receiver won't be able to power the lnb's on the dish. So you need to either eliminate the splitter or replace it with a splitter that has DC pass-thru. I believe that DC is only passed to one leg so you would only be able to power the dish from one of the jacks. If you eliminate the splitter then you could try and run a separate coax to the outside for the second jack. Then you could use either jack or both if you have two sat receivers.

 

[big ed]

As Justanoldfart said most travel trailers have a splitter in them and they ususally have an amp for the outside antenna. You can use a diplexer to get the power to the lnb or run a separate cable for the satellite system. Inkside the box where the coax cable is you will probaly find the amplfier, especially if you have a buttopn to push to turn on the amp.

 

[bfla]

thanks for the info I will try that

 

[HDinCincy]

thanks for the info I will try that

Just about and "old" dish will have at least two outputs (to power two recvrs) so while it will kind of be a pain, in the long run you'll be better off to run two RG6 cables to your D* recvrs. That's what I've done in my motorhome and it has been worth it.

 

[mental1]

You can buy an all ports power passing splitter to replace the current splitter. This way you can move the receiver to which ever outlet you want in the trailer. The only downfall is, if you try to use more than one receiver at a time or a dvr, one of the boxes/tuners will come up with a searching for satellite signal message if they need to use 13v(odd) or 18v(even) at the same time. For a single basic receiver, it will be fine. hope that helps.

 

[Zynergi]

Use Dual Bonded Cable and replace the splitter with a 3x4 Multiswitch.. screwing around with DC pass... MultiPass etc splitters is just going to cause further headaches.

 

[Jimbo]

Just run separate lines (if possible) for the sat.
Thats what I ended up doing ...
Now I have sat as well as cable when thats available in the park and I don't want to deal with the dish set up.
All depends on what the situation is.

Jimbo